Since I did the Easter picture post last week, I never quite got to our regular weekly wrap up post, so this will be a little longer.
I posted we'd made the Bird Nests, but we hadn't tried them yet. I wanted to report back that I liked them, but they were kind of messy to eat, as they crumble easily. These lasted in the kitchen much longer than I expected them to (but Paul and Sam are both off sugar right now). Josiah and Jack weren't really interested in them, even though peanut butter is usually one of Jack's favorites. All that to say, we probably won't make these again, even though I liked them.
What's this? A back to school picture in April? Yep. Jack is back on campus again, after more than a year away. He was struggling with virtual school, and is very happy to be among humans outside the house again.
I was looking for a particular book in the school room and ran across something else entirely (please tell me I'm not the only one who does this!) so we have used God & the History of Art a couple times this week. I have leftover student pages from when the older kids were homeschooling. This may be my last chance to use some up.
Books, books, books. I'm surprised they let me take more out this week. This business of holding them to let the cooties die before checking them back in has the effect of making it harder for us to see a drop in the total number of books we have out. Because I returned books 3 different days, and picked books up 1 day, and we've only had a net drop from 102 to 97.
More Chinese stick puzzle brain teasers
Because our curriculum has ended, and I'm cobbling together enough stuff to fill our days, we're doing a brief return to Grapevine Studies with a free sample I downloaded recently. The girls vaguely remembered using it a few years ago, because of the drawings. That's my very impressive Chief Priest paying Judas 30 pieces of silver.
Forward arm circles! Backward arm circles! High knees! Side shuffle! We didn't do our exercises every day, but we're starting to get into the swing of things. I keep forgetting to take pictures while we're out there.
Really loving the cones and handle tubes the most out of all the equipment we received.
Also, while I was riding slowly alongside Hannah as she jogged, I spotted a wallet on the ground. After trying a couple houses nearby and not getting any response, I posted looking for the owner on NextDoor, where everyone said, "Take it to the police station." So Jack and I did that when I picked him up from school.
There's a dish I made when we studied Turkey, that we all liked well enough to add to our regular rotation. Only, it uses 2 pounds of diced lamb, which is pretty pricey. This week I tried it with pork instead. (Photo is of dish in progress, not the finished product.) Saved about $10 bucks, which makes me happy, and while different, was still tasty.
The book I'm currently reading was pictured weeks ago, but it's really interesting. Presumably, it's about the Faberge eggs, but it's really covered so much more than that. A good overview of Russian history during/after the last 2 czars. It's sad that King George (the 5th, not Elizabeth's father) rescinded his offer of sanctuary to his cousin. I wonder what the world would be like today if the Romanovs had not been executed.
Speaking of royal families, and history, I feel like the recent passing of Prince Philip marks the beginning of the end for Queen Elizabeth. He's really the last person who knew her well before she was queen. After 73 years of marriage, his passing is bound to leave a gaping hole in her world.
No study of Nepal could be complete without a mention of the animal in every animal alphabet book: The Yak! I used the faux fur I bought for the gnomes we never made when we studied Norway. I showed the girls how to only cut through the backing, and not through the fur.
Finished multimedia project. Paint, 8x10 canvas, construction paper, fur, and wiggle eyes.
More books. We're down to 74 checked out now. I've got a pile going for our next country, but I haven't started requesting books for the one after that yet. I'll just have to hope those can get to us in a timely manner, once I do.
This pickup included some of Hannah's research books on a woman she's doing a report on. A butterfly and moth scientist, apparently.
A local church is closing their library and giving away all their books, so I went and picked up a wagon load for the kids' private school. (I also plundered a few Susan May Warren and Terri Blackstock books for when I need some fluff reading.) The bookends and book stands will be helpful in the school library, too.
The only time this wagon gets any use is curriculum fairs, so it was nice to pull it out of the garage and see it in action again.
Katie's origami fox
Hannah's plant life cycle project
I told the girls they could choose any project from a "How to draw..." book. Hannah's deer/antelope/gazelle, and Katie's golden eagle.
A shark project from a library book.
Josiah made pizzas one night. He's discovered bacon ranch dressing, which he used for the sauce on the bacon chicken one.
And pepperoni & olive for the more traditional.
Katie's bag puppet, from a repurposed library bag.
Whew! So that covers Nepal and the Galapagos Islands. We'll be off to Ireland next, which was Katie's choice.
What an amazing two weeks! So much good stuff. I gotta say that I love those yaks like crazy. They are so, so, so cute! Now I want to have my kids make some. I'm also liking the plant life cycle craft, as well.
ReplyDeleteAnd even though I ate a perfectly lovely dinner of salsa verde pork soft tacos followed by a decadent chocolate butterscotch blondie, I'm totally craving homemade pizza after looking at the pictures!!!
I'm glad we finally did *something* with that faux fur! (And there's plenty left to make gnomies if I decide we need them as a Christmas decoration.)
DeleteIt's fun to see what crafts the girls pick with a variety of project books. Hannah usually goes for the easiest possible thing. Katie often comes to me asking if we have obscure supplies for more involved projects.